This is a picture of a book by Andrew Keen. He posits in his book that the Internet and especially Wikipedia, YouTube, blogs and other publicly available content publishing tools, is destroying our culture. Yes this is a huge generalization of his thesis. If you want to know specifics then read the book. Mr. Keen argues that the publicly accessible nature of the Internet medium enables any Joe Schmo to deliver their version of the truth with an imprimatur of veracity. He argues that our cultural gatekeepers, trained professionals and other worthy individuals, have been bypassed by the aforementioned tools by the, god forbid, the average person. As you can tell, I disagree with him, but only to a degree.
Do I think that Rupert Murdoch who controls a vast amount of media outlets all over the world is a "worthy" gate keeper, a high priest of high culture? No, I do not, Mr. Keen. Do I think that the New York Times and NPR are respectable objective journalists? Yes. Do I believe that Andrew Keen is worthy of commenting on our society and culture? Yes. Mr. Keen is as well qualified as anyone else. Is it my opinion that Mr. Keen misinterprets our society, laws and others? Yes. Check out Lawrence Lessig's blog. He refutes many misstatements made by Mr. Keen about him.
In light of Mr. Keen's comments, I find it surprising that Mr. Keen has a blog and uses the Internet, that dirty, democratic medium, to promote himself and his book. But really, how different is he from any other person seeking celebrity today?
